THE TELEGRAPH: The Prince of Wales has been rebuffed by the Qatar Royal Family in his battle to stop a £1 billion modern flats development in a historic part of London.
The Qataris, who had been reported to be on the verge of backing down in the face of the onslaught from the Prince, have instead reaffirmed their commitment to the luxury apartments development on the site of Chelsea Barracks.
The Prince had written to the Prime Minister of Qatar appealing to him to scrap the modern steel and glass development. He also asked to be involved in the discussions over the future of the site.
But the Prince's hopes that the scheme would be withdrawn are at an end after the Qatari Diar, the development arm of the country's royal family, issued a statement confirming it's commitment to the scheme.
The statement said: "The owner and developer of the Chelsea Barracks site is concerned that several recent reports in the media have either stated or implied that it is actively considering abandoning the scheme which it submitted for planning to Westminster City Council February 27, 2009. As a direct consequence of these reports, we have written to Westminster City Council confirming wholehearted commitment to the scheme." >>> By Andrew Pierce | Friday, May 1, 2009
